Lt. Jonathan Rivera, who NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch refused to fire for killing Washington Heights man Allan Feliz, pleaded guilty last week to an Abuse of Authority allegation for unlawful summons from a 2023 incident. He will likely lose 20 vacation days, but keep his job after a separate substantiated misconduct complaint for an offense potentially punishable by termination.
Previous calls to fire Rivera stem from him fatally shooting Feliz during a 2019 Bronx traffic stop and came from multiple elected officials, including Mayor Zohran Mamdani when he was a state assemblymember. Last year, the NYPD’s own administrative judge ruled in favor of terminating the officer for violating department rules following a long-delayed disciplinary trial. But Tisch, who gets sole discretion, reversed course and handed down no punishment for killing Feliz.
Retaining Rivera drew criticism for the NYPD disciplinary process, which allows a police deputy commissioner to internally preside as judge over misconduct trials and the commissioner to overrule any rulings made during the proceedings. Tisch, who made the call under Mamdani’s predecessor Eric Adams, was retained by the current administration.
Under the NYPD disciplinary matrix, improper or wrongful enforcement action involving abuse of discretion and authority (like an unlawful summons) is a fireable offense but comes with the presumptive penalty of losing 20 vacation days. Much like traditional criminal cases, Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) prosecutors can reach a plea agreement with the offending officer in lieu of a trial. Again, Tisch will make the final call on what discipline Rivera actually faces.
“The CCRB investigates each case in an independent and impartial fashion, following the evidence and the law in making its determinations,” said CCRB spokesperson Dakota Gardner in an emailed statement. “Lt. Rivera pled guilty to an Abuse of Authority allegation relating to an unlawful summons and will forfeit 20 vacation days as discipline — pending Police Commissioner approval. This is the presumptive penalty under the NYPD disciplinary matrix.”
The unlawful summons occurred years after Feliz’s death and while disciplinary proceedings against Rivera brewed. While the complainant’s identity remains unknown, filings show a Black male in his mid-late 30s made the allegation.
Feliz’s younger brother, Samy, expressed frustration with the plea, as he hoped the CCRB would pursue termination in a disciplinary trial against Rivera due to his misconduct history.
“This is just an officer that [continues] harmful practices [that] are going to put all New Yorkers at risk,” said Samy Feliz in a phone interview. “As a family who’s been vocal about removing this officer from the police force, we now feel like either Commissioner Tisch or Mayor Mamdani have to do what’s right and remove this police officer.”
Mamdani’s public calls for firing Rivera over the killing of Feliz date back as recently as early last year when the NYPD courts made the guilty verdict and Tisch was already appointed commissioner. In a Feb. 2025 press conference, he deemed the officer’s termination “the most basic form of justice.” A month later, Mamdani signed a letter to Tisch calling for Rivera’s firing over the NYPD trial court’s decision.
The ruling did not come easily, either. Feliz’s family fought for years to try Rivera in a disciplinary trial, which finally occurred late 2024, around when Tisch was appointed. Just one other officer — Daniel Pantaleo for the death of Eric Garner — faced a similar guilty verdict and was fired soon after.
After Feliz’s death, the NYPD promoted Rivera from sergeant to lieutenant. He was also involved in non-fatally shooting a Black teenager in 2013, allegedly firing 16 shots and landing three. The incident is not documented in Rivera’s misconduct history. Video evidence obtained years later by the New York Daily News showed the 15-year-old unarmed and surrendering.
Concerns over the NYPD deploying officers with long misconduct track records remain after cellphone footage caught two narcotics squad detectives beating a Black man named Timothy Brown and allegedly dragging him across broken glass in a Brooklyn liquor store last month over mistaken identity. The CCRB previously substantiated Abuse of Authority allegations against both officers, according to a claim of notice court filing.
Efforts to remove Rivera from the NYPD continue next week. Opening arguments for an Article 78 lawsuit filed to reverse Tisch’s decision will take place next Thursday. If successful, the courts could overrule the commissioner to fire Rivera for killing Feliz.
The NYPD did not respond to a request to comment.